House GOP Blocks LGBT Amendment After Dem Introduces It A Third TIme

UNITED STATES - JUNE 9: Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., speaks during the news conference at the Capitol to call for federal surveys to include data on sexual orientation and gender identity on Thursday, June 9, 2... UNITED STATES - JUNE 9: Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., speaks during the news conference at the Capitol to call for federal surveys to include data on sexual orientation and gender identity on Thursday, June 9, 2016. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) MORE LESS
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After a Democratic congressman offered an LGBT measure as an amendment to the Defense Department spending bill, the House Rules Committee would not let the measure come up for a vote on Tuesday night, The Hill reported.

This is the third time that Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) has introduced the measure that would affirm anti-discrimination protections for LGBT employees of federal contractors as an amendment to a spending bill. On Tuesday, he said he hoped a vote on the amendment would send a positive message to the LGBT community in the wake of the deadly shooting in Orlando, Florida.

“It’s hard to imagine that any act that is so horrific could lead to anything positive. But if we were going to do anything, it would be a very positive step to say that discrimination has no place in our law and to reaffirm the president’s actions in this area,” he told The Hill. “Seems to me a pretty basic thing to do.”

Maloney (pictured above) first introduced the measure as an amendment to a Veterans Affairs spending bill in May. The amendment at first looked like it would pass until a handful of Republicans switched their votes from “yes” to “no” in order to defeat the measure.

The Democratic congressman then introduced the measure as an amendment to an energy and water spending bill, which passed. But the pro-LGBT amendment caused the entire spending bill to fail in the House.

Following those votes, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) sought to limit the amendments to spending bills in order to keep the appropriations process from being derailed, according to The Hill.

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Notable Replies

  1. Wow, House Republicans, way to show your support for Donald Trump’s assurance to America’s LGBTQ community that we can count on him and the Republicans. So … 1) You don’t support our freedom to marry the adult of our choice; 2) The Pulse nightclub isn’t a gay club, it’s for Latinos; 3) We can kiss your asses with regards to any type of employment protections; 4) You “love” us but “hate” our “lifestyles.”

    Did I miss anything? Oh, you’re so welcoming, GOP. But, you know what? – I think I’ll take my chances with Hillary.

  2. A little OT, but not much: MENSA Genius, Native-American rights proponent, and former “Scooby Doo” supervillain Scott “Pocahontas” Brown is trying his hand at the gay-washing, just like the rest of the pussy Republican Teabaggers, trying to remove the gay aspect of the tragedy in Orlando. It wasn’t REALLY a gay club, dontcha know, because there were a lot of those young brown people there, so it was really an attack on ALL people, not just the fag…oops, I mean TEH GHEYS. They think they can do the same thing to the gay community that they tried to do with the black community by minimizing Black Lives Matter, attempting to change the conversation to All Lives Matter, but it ain’t gonna work. The GOP has spent decades demonizing the gay community for political gain, but they are deathly afraid of the gays, because they know we fight back, and usually to the death. I mean, after all we’ve been through for so long, what the fuck do we have to lose?

  3. Avatar for fgs fgs says:

    I disagree that “the pro-LGBT amendment caused the entire spending bill to fail in the House.”

    Republicans want the United States military to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Republicans voted against the bill to make sure that contractors can still do it.

  4. “Seems to me a pretty basic thing to do."
    Unless you are a chickenshit anti Obama anything racist who kowtows to the religious right.

    Republicans: Doing everything in their power to elect Democrats.
    Tone deaf taken to a new level

  5. Avatar for paulw paulw says:

    There’s what republicans say for the cameras, and there’s what they do.

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